Human Rights vs. Market Rules In Agriculture: How Prioritizing Business is Endangering Human Food Security Along Chile’s Mataquito River (1999-2010)

Here is my video story on environmental inequality along the Mataquito River in Chile.

Introduction

“We have no water for human consumption,” Julieta Cortez, 52, president of the Rural Women’s Association of the municipality of Canela, told Instituto de Prevision Social (IPS). “In Canela, more than 80 percent of the population depends on the water truck that delivers 50 liters of water per person per day. It’s hard to get by with that amount” 1. This is an issue going on in the Coquimbo region of central Chile, 250 miles north of Santiago, the capital of Chile. More specifically, family farmers and community farmers have limited access to water while big agro-export farms thrive from their exclusive access to water. This unequal distribution of water is due to defective Chilean water law, which in turn is causing environmental damage to all levels of farmland in Chile because of a lack of restrictions towards extractive businesses. Damage to farmland means danger for the availability of food resources, defects in political infrastructure that cause this need to be adjusted to allow for long term sustainability of world wide agriculture and food security.

The situation in the municipality of Canela is one of many examples of the negative effects of water laws on farmland in Chile. Canela, as mentioned above, has relevant details on what conditions farmers (especially small farmers) and other locals have to deal with, as one of the many sites that can provide supportive information for the main site of this research, which is the Mataquito River in the Maule Region of Chile. The Mataquito River has been through multiple toxic waste spills all coming from the wood pulp, engineered wood, and forestry company named Celulosa Arauco y Constitucion (Celco). The flow of this river is lined with a majority of farmland, which depends on the water along the river since all bodies of water are of high value in Chile because of their scarcity and essentiality in the country. 

The environmental injustice that had been done to the Mataquito River by the company Celco posed many forms of danger upon the immediately surrounding community which highly depends on it. Amidst the incident of river pollution by celco, the Chilean government and subservient authorities  seemed to show very little will to actively resolve the environmental issue while at the same time showing favor to Celco when making decisions in regards to letting the company keep running. This shows that Chile is prioritizing economic efficiency over social equity and environmental protection, so upon noticing the odd response from authorities, the state of the country must be taken into consideration. Chile as a country runs on a free market economy, meaning that there is little to no intervention from the government in commerce, it has historically had issues due to limited water resources for geographic reasons, it has defective water laws, etc. Looking into how the state of Chile as a country affects its agricultural sector in return prompts to pose some questions. Does the capitalist business model cause neglect of the agricultural sector? Is human food security and health in danger due to the environmental injustice issues faced by the agricultural sector? This paper will discuss potentialities of endangering human food security through capitalism’s effects on agriculture and what can be done to sustain it moving forward.

The big issue at hand for concern in the long run is dangers brought upon human food security due to environmental injustice. To understand uncertainties about long term human food security, we must work backwards from the resultant concern, all the way back to the beginning of the cause of the issue. We get our food from cultivating the land by farming, but when looking at the incidents that happened to the Mataquito River in Chile, environmental damage is constantly being done to farmland by the manufacturing company Celco without proper response from the government. The leniency from the government in regards to this shows there are some deeper issues in Chile’s infrastructure, so Celco’s importance to Chile as a company must be understood to inform why the Chilean government is allowing Celco’s pollution history to happen. Then, the fact that Chile’s government is allowing environmental damage caused by a company entails the need to understand Chile’s political/economical history which eventually led to a government in this state. To follow, as a result of environmental damage from a business and a government leniently allowing the continuation of it, there was no choice other than the rise of local resistance which occurred in response to the Mataquito River pollution, so the result of resistance from locals is important to take into consideration to then answer what must be done moving forward to ensure the sustaining of agriculture around the world so that the we can continue to have food available in the future. 

Background on Mataquito River Pollution

Before getting into the details of the pollution of the Mataquito River, the contextual details of its affected immediate environment need to be expanded upon. The Mataquito River starts where the Teno River and the Lontué River that border the city of Curico meet, the river then flows from left to right along the vertically narrow country of Chile, until it empties into the Pacific Ocean. The context surrounding this river involves towns, small rural communities, and hamlets (smaller than village or town, or settlements), and a majority of farmlands. Additionally, there is a beach in the area where the Mataquito River empties into the Pacific Ocean, but what is to note about this beach is the fact that it is internationally recognized as a key bird and biodiversity area for conservation 2. The river serves the surrounding area as a source for irrigation, fishing, domestic use (drinking, cleaning), etc. These are all the factors that were  vulnerable to environmental damage due to their dependency on the river, but the company Celco Licancel came into the picture of this area in September 1999 when they acquired the Licancel plant near the town of Licanten, Chile.

Celco Licancel Pollution

Celco has a very bad environmental record that is made up of the company having a history of river pollution controversies along the Mataquito River and the Cruces River. Although both cases are important, the Mataquito River pollution will be the site of focus for this research, but the circumstances of the Cruces River pollution can provide some more beneficial information to the topic in discussion. Celco has had repeated episodes of contamination in the Mataquito River, starting first in December, 1999 only a few months after the company acquired the Licancel plant in September, 1999. This initial incident was the most massive spill of effluents into the Mataquito River where Celco spilt into the river waste and pollutants that were generated during the cleaning and maintenance of its facilities 3. Following this initial massive toxic spill into the river, in the years that followed, up until 2007, several minor spills occurred. After years of neglect, locals and local authorities started to react when in June 2007, fishermen and farmers denounced the massive death of fish in the river Mataquito 4. In response to the complaints from fishermen and farmers, health authorities went to inspect the plant only to find that Celco had two illegal underground disposal pipelines for liquid industrial waste that had not been evaluated 5. In response to this the health authorities only ordered the temporary closure of the plant for thirty days, to notice the reaction of any bodies of higher power compared to community members. 

Two weeks after the discovery of Celco’s illegal activity in June 2007, another 200,000 gallons of liquid industrial wastes were spilled into the environment from a broken pipe plant 6. On this occasion of the history of Celco’s scandalous behavior, the very president of Chile at the time, Michelle Bachelet, said that the damage costs should be borne by those responsible 7. But, Celco decided not to take responsibility for those affected because they estimated that the closure of the plant alone would mean monthly losses of four million dollars 8. Once again, notice the lenient reaction from entities that have more power compared to the locals around the Mataquito River. Celco does not want to take responsibility for the damage they caused, health authorities only imposed minor punishments on Celco after clearly catching them doing illegal activity, and lastly, the president of Chile at the time only made a statement, although with the right intentions, without taking the immediate action that she had the most convenient power to do so. This was why a year later, on June 3, 2008, Celco provoked a new toxic spill into the Mataquito River, as a product of flaws in their facilities and of the emergency equipment in the plant 9. This demonstrated impunity, where a company hurts a community without being sanctioned by the State institutions or subject to repair and/or to compensate communities in its totality for damages 10. The lenient approach of the Chilean government to how it reacted to pollution of the Mataquito River shows that there is a deeper infrastructural issue, which in relevance to this case when taking Chile’s political history into consideration, can be dated back to 1973.

Evolution of Chilean Government and Economy

The infrastructural deficiencies in Chile’s government that over time led to its more recent issues with its business sector towards the agricultural sector started in 1951, when Chile’s first water code was passed. This will be a review of the evolution of Chile’s economy and politics with the purpose of helping to understand how the current resultant circumstances in the country came about. The evolution of the Chilean water code is a classic example of what in Latin America is often called the law of the pendulum: the historical tendency to swing from one extreme to the other in political and economic affairs 11. The 1951 Water Code was characterized by a relatively balanced combination of public regulation and private property rights in which the government’s administrative authority was strengthened and significant legal conditions were imposed on private rights 12. In 1967, the Agrarian Reform Law, swung the pendulum towards greatly expanded governmental authority over water use and water management, at the expense of private rights 13. This Agrarian Reform Law included a section on water rights that was later published separately as a new water code 14. 14 years later, the Chilean military government swung the pendulum to the opposite extreme, which is where it remains today 15.

The Chilean water law had gone through multiple major reforms from 1951 to 1967 to 1981, but the political state of Chile during the time period when the 1981 Water Code was passed is important for understanding its influence on the country later on. Both the 1981 Water Code and the political state of Chile from 1973 to 1990 are crucial points in Chile’s political and economic history which inform the circumstances within Celco’s river pollution. Since being founded in 1821, Chile had developed a strong tradition of representative democracy 16, until its 1973 presidential election where the transition to power went from centrist Partido Democratico Christiano (PDC; Christian Democratic Party) president Eduardo Frei to Salvador Allende, a socialist committed to democracy. While in power, Allende made efforts to transform Chile into a socialist society while respecting democratic institutions, civil liberties, and the rule of law (“no one is above the law”) which quickly created economic instability and polarized the population 17. In opposition to this presidency, a coup d’état by a military junta led by general Augusto Pinochet was used to overthrow Allende’s presidency, after which Augusto assumed presidency 18. Following the coup d’état, Chile was ruled from 1973 until 1990 under the dictatorship of a military regime where no presidential elections were held during that entire time period and conflicting events such as human rights abuses took place. Within the duration of Chile’s past military regime, two crucial infrastructural changes were made, the switch to a free market economy, and the passing of the 1981 Water Code that turned water into a commodity by privatizing water rights, these two together were major contributions to the complications that led to environmental damage which locals have more recently had to fight against in Chile. 

Local Resistance

The first signs of any resistance towards Celco’s actions came up when another massive death of fish (silverside, mullet, and trout) in the Mataquito River was reported 19 after another one of Celco’s spills in June 2007. In response, Chilean environmental authorities organized inspections with divers from the Grupo de Operaciones Polociales Especiales (G.O.P.E) of the Carabineros de Chile (military police) 20, to which they discovered two secret underwater disposal pipelines made by Celco. Because this was illegal, the Chilean health authorities ordered the closure of the plant for thirty days, and Celco had fired three executives 21, but this was only a minor temporary consequence inflicted on Celco that did not resolve anything. 

When it comes to local resistance to Celco’s Mataquito River pollutants, the most active organizations in the conflict were the Lora-Quelmen Irrigation Community (a community organization of farmers in the area); The Fishermen’s Union of La Pesca; The Provincial Federation of Artisanal Fishing; The Federation of Artisanal Fishermen (FEDEPESCA); and the Trade and Tourism Association of La Pesca 22. Resistance from the surrounding community itself first started in later December 1999, after Celco had its first spill in early December that year. On December 23, 1999, after seeing the serious impacts of the toxic spill of the Licancel Pulp on earlier on December 3rd, the Lora-Quelmen irrigation community, with the support of the Latin American Observatory of Environmental Conflicts (OLCA), filed an appeal for protection before the Court of Appeals of Talca against Celco 23. The company had violated the constitutional right to live in an environment free of pollution, which is enshrined in the Political Constitution of the Republic 24. Despite this, the Court of Appeals of Talca rejected this appeal after a long process 25. Another instance of resistance occurred years later down the line in 2007 when Celco had two river spills only two weeks apart from one another, to which artisanal fishermen who were once again affected by the plant’s contamination began protesting against Celco. Unfortunately, once again, community efforts were shut down because neither these protests nor the administrative claims and legal actions by those affected had an influence on the authorities and the courts 26. Once again leaving Celco able to continue with its business while also free from the responsibilities of their actions towards the environment. 

One last portion of the local resistance against Celco came from different regional (Maule Region) authorities making numerous complaints. All occurring in 2007, the mayor of the Maule Region, Alexis Sepúlveda, filed a lawsuit against Celco. Following this is a series of complaints from figures that are part of the regional authorities until they joined the lawsuit against the company. In one of the complaints, Deputy Roberto León, together with the affected fishermen of the area pointed to the responsibility of Celco after a study of the river’s dead fish carried out by the Universidad Austral de Chile revealed that high concentrations of toxins used by Celco were found in the fish. León would then proceed to contact the president of the State Defense Council, Carlos McKenney, to request that the environmental unit of that agency become part of the lawsuit filed by the Municipality of Maule. In another complaint, Partido por la Democracia (PPD; Party for Democracy) Senator Guido Guirardi asked the Ministry of the Interior to to declare the Mataquito surroundings as a “health catastrophe zone,” so that those affected could be given all the necessary resources to allow them to live their normal lives. Guirardi also demanded the definitive closure of Celco 27. As shown above, there were many opposing forces acting against Celco’s damages to the surrounding environment of the Mataquito River, but the simple fact that Chile’s economy is very export dependent 28 plays a big role in the company’s actions not being sternly dealt with.

Results of Local Resistance

In opposition to Celco’s pollution of the Mataquito River, local residents and local authorities were forced to take action by doing things such as making inspections, filing lawsuits, making protests, and more, but all lead to uncertain results. First efforts of resistance towards Celco came from locals residents and got shut down, until effort from local authorities left Celco with no choice but to respond. The company’s response due to being forced to was to involve taking advantage of their power by using money to die things down. Without taking the necessary initiative to make repairs for their environmental damage. An example of this is the company’s decision to announce that they would provide economic assistance to the fishermen of the Mataquito River while the fishing ban that they caused to be decreed by the authorities subsists 28. Today, there is still no government response on the ecological situation of Mataquito River, but there is only evidence of a country’s focus on keeping business running at the expense of instances of neglect of human rights.

Conclusion

Chilean water law privatizing water rights prioritizes business in the country, which trickles down to some of their companies causing environmental damage due to their excessive extractions and lack of caution in their operations, especially major economic drivers such as Chile’s agricultural sector. Chilean businesses are allowed to cause environmental damage to its agricultural sector in efforts to keep the economy strong, but the future of the availability of food is being put at risk. With this taken into consideration, all countries must cultivate the land to produce food, and all countries strive to improve their economy, but the race for better economies across the globe, although done with good intentions, could potentially pose a risk to the availability of food in the future due to the focus on business overshadowing environmental and domestic affairs. Efforts to achieve better economic efficiency can potentially impose negative effects on food security,despite good intentions, which calls for infrastructural revaluations or adjustments that can ensure the best possible future.

Endnotes

1. Orlando Milesi , “Drought and Unequal Water Rights Threaten Family Farms in Chile,” Drought and Unequal Water Rights Threaten Family Farms in Chile -, December 17, 2025, https://www.globalissues.org/news/2024/04/30/36605.
2. Western Hemisphere Shorebird Reserve Network (WHSRN), “Mataquito-Huenchullamí,” Whsrn.org, December 17, 2025, https://whsrn.org/whsrn_sites/mataquito-huenchullami/.
3. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
4. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
5. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
6. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
7. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
8. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
9. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
10. Sarra Larrain and Columbina Schaeffer, “Conflicts Over Water in Chile: Between Human Rights and Market Rules,” blueplanetproject.net, December 17, 2025, https://blueplanetproject.net/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/59bc2-chilewaterreport-0411.pdf.
11. Professor Carl J. Bauer, Siren Song Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform, ProQuest Ebook Central, 1st ed. (Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis, 2014), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/detail.action?docID=592539&query=Siren%2520Song%253A%2520Chilean%2520Water%2520Law%2520As%2520a%2520Model%2520for%2520International%2520Reform.
12. Professor Carl J. Bauer, Siren Song Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform, ProQuest Ebook Central, 1st ed. (Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis, 2014), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/detail.action?docID=592539&query=Siren%2520Song%253A%2520Chilean%2520Water%2520Law%2520As%2520a%2520Model%2520for%2520International%2520Reform.
13. Professor Carl J. Bauer, Siren Song Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform, ProQuest Ebook Central, 1st ed. (Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis, 2014), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/detail.action?docID=592539&query=Siren%2520Song%253A%2520Chilean%2520Water%2520Law%2520As%2520a%2520Model%2520for%2520International%2520Reform.
14. Professor Carl J. Bauer, Siren Song Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform, ProQuest Ebook Central, 1st ed. (Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis, 2014), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/detail.action?docID=592539&query=Siren%2520Song%253A%2520Chilean%2520Water%2520Law%2520As%2520a%2520Model%2520for%2520International%2520Reform.
15. Professor Carl J. Bauer, Siren Song Chilean Water Law as a Model for International Reform, ProQuest Ebook Central, 1st ed. (Washington, DC: Taylor and Francis, 2014), https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/njit/detail.action?docID=592539&query=Siren%2520Song%253A%2520Chilean%2520Water%2520Law%2520As%2520a%2520Model%2520for%2520International%2520Reform.
16. Agathe Demarolle and Britannica Editors, “1973 Chilean Coup d’état | Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet, CIA, History, Chile, & Facts | Britannica,” Britannica, December 17, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/1973-Chilean-coup-d-etat.
17. Agathe Demarolle and Britannica Editors, “1973 Chilean Coup d’état | Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet, CIA, History, Chile, & Facts | Britannica,” Britannica, December 17, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/1973-Chilean-coup-d-etat.
18. Agathe Demarolle and Britannica Editors, “1973 Chilean Coup d’état | Salvador Allende, Augusto Pinochet, CIA, History, Chile, & Facts | Britannica,” Britannica, December 17, 2025, https://www.britannica.com/event/1973-Chilean-coup-d-etat.
19. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
20. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
21. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
22. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
23. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
24. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
25. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
26. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
27. “Contaminación Tóxica de Celco Licancel En El Río Mataquito,” Derecho al Agua, accessed December 17, 2025, https://www.derechoalagua.cl/mapa-de-conflictos/contaminacion-toxica-de-celco-licancel-en-el-rio-mataquito/.
28.  Inter-American Network of Academies of Sciences, “Challenges and Opportunities for Food and Nutrition Security in the Americas: The View of the Academies of Sciences • IANAS,” IANAS, October 27, 2025, https://ianas.org/document/food-and-nutrition-security-publications/.

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